Corn dog
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Place of origin | United States |
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Created by | Disputed |
Main ingredients | Hot dog, cornmeal batter |
Variations | Multiple |
A corn dog (also spelled corndog) is a sausage (usually a hot dog) coated in a thick layer of cornmeal batter on a stick.
Newly arrived German Texan sausage-makers, finding resistance to the sausages they used to make, have been credited with introducing the corn dog to the United States, though the serving stick came later. A US patent filed in 1927, granted in 1929, for a Combined Dipping, Cooking, and Article Holding Apparatus, describes corn dogs, among other fried food impaled on a stick; it reads in part:
I have discovered that articles of food such, for instance, as wieners, boiled ham, hard boiled eggs, cheese, sliced peaches, pineapples, bananas and like fruit, and cherries, dates, figs, strawberries, etc., when impaled on sticks and dipped in batter, which includes in its ingredients a self rising flour, and then deep fried in a vegetable oil at a temperature of about 390 °F [200 °C], the resultant food product on a stick for a handle is a clean, wholesome and tasty refreshment.
In 300 Years of Kitchen Collectibles, author Linda Campbell Franklin states that a "Krusty Korn Dog" baker machine appeared in the 1929 Albert Pick-L. Barth wholesale catalog of hotel and restaurant supplies. The 'korn dogs' were baked in a corn batter and resembled ears of corn when cooked.
A number of current corn dog vendors claim responsibility for the invention and/or popularization of the corn dog. Carl and Neil Fletcher lay such a claim, having introduced their "Corny Dogs" at the Texas State Fair sometime between 1938 and 1942. The Pronto Pup vendors at the Minnesota State Fair claim to have invented the corn dog in 1941.Cozy Dog Drive-in, in Springfield, Illinois, claims to have been the first to serve corn dogs on sticks, on June 16, 1946. Also in 1946, Dave Barham opened the first location of Hot Dog on a Stick at Muscle Beach, Santa Monica, California.
Corn dogs are often served as street food or as fast food. Some vendors or restaurateurs dip and fry their dogs just before serving. Corn dogs can also be found at almost any supermarket in North America as frozen food that can be heated and served. Some corn dog purveyors sell these premade frozen corn dogs which have been thawed and then fried again or browned in an oven. Premade frozen corn dogs can also be heated in a microwave oven, but the cornbread coating will lack texture. Corn dogs may be eaten plain or with a variety of condiments, with mustard being the most popular.